It's a miracle! Sigur Rós have finally made a record that flaunts their genius with majestic arrangements without inducing wrist-slitting! They've upped the tempo, the mood and with contributions from the london sinfonietta, london oratory boy's choir, string-quartet friends Amiina, as well as a five-piece brass section, they've even upped the scale... for the most part, that is. Opening track and single Gobbledigook announces this change of direction boldly with its tribal las, confident guitar strum and stomping drums. On the first Sigur Ros album made outside of Iceland, their first English language track, All Alright, is almost unrecognisable as such - no shame considering Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur's building Icelandic rhyme makes you wonder why anyone ever needed lyrics in their mother tongue. Festival, the album's one "Hopelandic" offering, unfortunately does not match this feat as Jonsi Birgisson's vocals float aimlessly in the imaginary language.

In the past Sigur Rós have had an air of self-indulgence in their prolonged, oppressive sequences that overwhelmed and sometimes even bored, and yet despite it all they still had the power to place you firmly in their awe. In tracks like Illgresi, with the simplicity and beauty of its plucked acoustic guitar, and Gódan Daginn, with its characteristically church-like Sigur Rós vocals, the melancholy that once stifled and protracted Sigur Rós albums here aerates and accentuates how atypical much of this new album is of the atmospheric Icelandics. There are still some overly drawn out passages here (Festival and ára bátur both circle the 9 minute mark), and songs that require patience and a very particular mood, but it's still the best thing they've done so far, by far.

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